


The Crash

by Pickles_Tickle



Series: Short Stories [2]
Category: No Fandom
Genre: Anxiety, Anxiety Attacks, Captain America References, Car Accidents, Forced Guinea Pig, Forced Test Subject, Guns, I'm Bad At Tagging, Illegal Experimentation, It's Hard to Come up with Bootleg Names, Original Universe, Science Experiments, Short Stories, Triggers, Unpermitted Science Practices
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-29
Updated: 2018-11-27
Packaged: 2019-08-09 12:47:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16450241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pickles_Tickle/pseuds/Pickles_Tickle
Summary: Failing brakes. Uncontrollable acceleration. A tan Chevrolet Equinox SUV flipping over…Swerving off the road. Into a ditch.





	1. Crashing

Leah is freaking out beside me, hyperventilating.

My head hurts… why does it hurt?

Memories from the past few minutes come back to me. 

Failing brakes. Uncontrollable acceleration. A tan Chevrolet Equinox SUV flipping over…  
Swerving off the road. Into a ditch.

My head hit the steering wheel.

Wait, there was another car!

I unbuckle and rush out, heading to the flipped vehicle. I run to the passenger side window, tearing up from guilt and frustration. 

“I-is everyone okay?!”

There’s a plump middle-aged woman, reaching behind her seat… oh god, there’s a toddler in a car seat.

“What the fuck were you thinking!? What are you, drunk?” the woman screams at me.

My anxiety jacks up even more, triggering the start of an attack.

“I-I’m sorry,” I gasp. “I hit the brakes but it just… but it j-just… KEPT GOING!” I start choking on my sobs and gasping, trying to control the sudden wave of malease and panic.

I reach in to help unbuckle her, and despite her anger, she lets me, crawling out through the broken window. We then work together to get the toddler, as well as a second kid, a girl about 7 or 8, in the way back, out of the busted car.

As it seemed everyone was fine, my dread ebbed away, until I could again think rationally.  
“D-do you need my insurance papers? I-I can have Leah get them…”

Leah was sitting with the children, helping them calm down as me and the woman talked.  
“Do we need to call an a-ambulance? A tow truck?”

She shakes her head. “My house isn’t too far from here. We can just go up the way and call from there.”

I nod, still shaking. “H-how far is it?”

She points up the road, across the flat area, to a house in the distance.

Nodding again, I say, “We c-can walk that.”

The woman, introducing herself as Beatrice, picks up her youngest to walk the distance.

“Um, m-my name is Anastasiya…” Jittery, I go to Leah, helping her up, and she takes the hand of the kid. 

Together, we all begin walking to Beatrice’s house.

-

She invites us inside, and Leah and I sit on the couch next to each other. The little girl is sleeping in Leah’s lap, leaning against her as Leah runs her fingers through the girl’s hair. They seem to have hit it off well.

The house is rather modern, with warm beige hues on the walls and tan carpets.The couch we sit on is an ashen grey, three square cushions. The coffee and side tables are made of glass, and there is a bureau made of oak and glass, filled with odd glass figurines. 

Most of them seem to be mythical creatures, such as a gorgon with green glass snakes for hair, or a hippogriff with a red beak.

There are two framed posters, one of a seagull with a crab in its beak, and one of bare, dead tree branches.

The part that makes it feel lived in, however, is the subtle hints of family here and there, such as smudged fingerprints on the glass tables, children’s toys on the floor, and faint stains on the carpet. Some of them are brown, like chocolate or maybe even remnants of potty-training, if you catch my drift.

There are three or four pictures of a middle-aged man placed around, gray hair and balding patches, and a grey broom mustache.

I see him in another picture, a family portrait of Beatrice, as well as a tiny baby and a younger version of the kid in Leah’s lap. Maybe it’s Beatrice’s husband, deceased or out or divorced. No, not divorced, or else Beatrice wouldn’t have pictures of him.

The two things that seem out of place is an eight-point deer head mounted on a wall, and a couple boxes of 5.56 mm bullets in the glass bureau.

Upon noticing those, I shift a little as Beatrice comes out with a tea tray, stocked with tea bags, sugar cubes, and cookies.

“A-are you sure you don’t want t-to press charges?” I say shakily. I really can’t believe she’s being this nice, especially after I almost killed her kids.

“I’m positive. So long as you pay for insurance, I’ll be happy.”  
I nod, shakily picking up a teacup.

It already has hot water in it, so I add a black tea bag to it. Leah sits next to me, getting herself green tea and honey while there is still a kid on her lap.

I swear to god, as much as she says she doesn’t want kids, she makes a great mom.  
“So, um, Beatrice? What are their names?”

“The little girl is Tina, and the boy is Andrew.” She sits on the edge of her seat, drinking coffee.

Tina is still sleeping in Leah’s lap, and I assume Andrew has been put down for a nap.

I sigh and finish my tea, thinking about the situation. From here, we could call a tow truck and get my car out of the ditch. I would pay them to also flip Beatrice’s car back over and pay for repairs, or buy her a new car if I need to, which I probably do. It was entirely my fault, because her car happened to be in my path when my brakes failed, so making sure the insurance company won’t jack her rates should be easy. Paying for it however…

I yawn, suddenly tired. It had been a very exciting past few hours, my body must be finally catching up after my anxiety attacks.

“Getting sleepy, dears?” Beatrice asks.

Confused, I look over at Leah. She looked ready to pass out as well. Odd, she’s always full of energy, no matter what.

“Don’t worry about it. My husband will be home soon, and we can sort this out then. For now, why don’t you two head to the guest bedroom to take a nap?”

I really don’t understand how she’s so… nice. Inviting strangers into her home, especially after those strangers caused an accident, and now she’s letting us sleep in her guest room?

I’m too tired to really argue, so I set my cup down and get up. Leah gently lay Tina down on the couch, and follows me to the guest room. There are two beds, and a small pile of folded blankets.

We each grab one and lay down to nap.


	2. Burning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You find out that Beatrice is crazy.

Oh gods, my head is killing me… Not like I hit it though, more like a hangover.

 

I try to sit up, but I find I already am. I also find that I am tied to a chair, trussed up and gagged like a turkey. Something covers my eyes.

 

Someone whimpers questioningly behind me. 

 

Leah.

 

What the fuck is going on?

 

I flick my fingers out, and they brush something warm. It grasps them, and I know that it’s Leah, holding my hand. Don’t worry, we’ll get out of here…

 

Leah begins to cry. She’s so scared, and I don’t blame here. I am too.

 

I try taking in my surroundings. The way her whimpers faintly echo, we must be in some kind of small room. It’s drafty and cold, so it must be made of cement or stone or brick. 

 

There is no light filtering through the blindfold, which means either it’s night, there are no windows, or the blindfold is really thick.

 

The chair is made of wood; my restraints are made of cloth.

 

I hear a door open, and I go limp, pretending to still be asleep. Letting go of Leah, I hope she gets the message. A light turns on, blue illumination shining through the sack.

 

“I know you both are awake. I have security cameras,” I hear a voice. Beatrice.

 

I sit up, turning my head in the direction of her noises. I try to push my tongue against the gag, but it doesn’t work. It stays in my mouth.

 

I jolt as I feel hands on either side of my head, and I buck my skull against them. 

 

“Cool it, dearie, I’m just taking the sack off.” Indeed, I feel it come off, as does the blindfold, but the gag stays put.

 

She is met with a death glare.

 

“Now, now, don’t be like that. Why don’t you take a look around?” She waves her hand, showcasing the basement.

 

I do look around, and I see a chemistry station, almost identical to what you would see from Radioactivity4, but much cleaner.

 

“Whether or not you ask, I’m going to tell you what this is.”

 

She picks up a syringe. It is filled with a reddish-brown fluid.

 

“You enjoy the Wonder Thematic Universe, right?”

 

Confused, I nod a bit.

 

“This here is my take on the power soldier concoction. It rapidly develops muscle growth, giving you a near-perpetual state of adrenaline, so you can use strength all you want without worrying about hurting yourself. With this, I can make unstoppable soldiers for our militaries.”

 

Leah stiffens as she hears Beatrice approach her with the serum and an alcohol wipe. I cry out in shock and yell against the gag, trying to get her to stop.

 

“Oh, don’t worry. I’m sure I’ve perfected it this time. The hamsters I tested it on are still alive.”

 

Once the alcohol wipe touches her arm, Leah starts kicking and squirming.

 

“Calm down, or I’ll sedate you.”

 

Leah whimpers but sits still.

 

Beatrice sticks the needle into Leah’s arm, and Leah flinches badly.

 

“Forty-five minutes to let it through your system before I’ll administer radiation…”

 

I look at her, horrified.

 

“Oh, that’s to meld the serum into her DNA. Otherwise, I’d have to continually administer it to her, which could create an addiction, as well as possibilities for cancer. Also, she’ll be able to pass it along through her descendants, assuming she gets out of here.”

 

I begin to cry.


	3. Thrashing

The door to the lab opens, and a man calls out. “Betty, where’s the other car? And whose purses are on the couch?”

 

I scream, desperately crying out for help. Please please please tell me he’ll help me and Leah out of hear.

 

The man comes down, and he sees us. I recognise him as the man in the picture with Beatrice and her kids, which must mean this man is her husband.

 

“Help me!” I try to scream through the gag, but it ends up badly garbled.

 

The man turns to Beatrice. “Honey, we’ve talked about this. Our subjects have to  _ volunteer  _ for us to test on them.”

 

“We’ve been trying for  _ two years,  _ Arthur! No one will volunteer! And I already injected the redhead with it.”

 

He sighs, running a hand over his face. “You know the only reason you aren’t already in jail for life is because you’re too brilliant to incarcerate. But this is getting out of hand.”

 

“We’re really close! I just needed to test it on human specimens. The adrenaline will hit in maybe forty-five minutes, and then we can expose her to the radiation to see if it will be complete.”

 

‘Arthur’ takes a deep breath, then looks to me. I look at him with pleading eyes, begging him to do what he should know is right.

 

“If it works on this one, we should test it on the other just in case. We don’t know if we’ll get the same result twice.”   
  
And with that, my fate was sealed.


	4. Epilogue

Finally successful, the scientist couple of Arthur and Beatrice shared their serum with the government. However, days before the agents were due to see demonstration, disaster struck.

 

The experiments, known as Specimen H473 and Specimen N44 broke out of containment and escaped.

 

The showed up at the nearest police station, claiming to be kidnapping victims, and has since joined the Witness Protection Program under new names, new identities.

 

“Anastasiya” and “Leah”, now under  different guises, both suffered from complex PTSD, similar to that in POWs and abuse victims.

 

They never saw each other again, despite being best friends in the past. 

 

“Ana” moved on with her life, meeting a husband, getting a stable job as a construction worker. She had four children and disappeared soon after her seventieth birthday. Her whereabouts after were unknown.

 

“Leah” moved from boyfriend to boyfriend, restless and scared, and became a baby mama to countless children. She lived to be one hundred-forty-one, and died of a heart attack in Austin, Texas.


End file.
